This invention is related to a system and a method for reading high precision printed barcodes and their specification verification. The presented invention has a technique of reading both logistic sorting barcode (one or two dimension) and multi-layered structure barcode such as four-state barcode for automatic postal matter sorting. The invention also investigates height of high densely reduced barcodes in more than 3 steps, and precisely measures and reads the values of black bars thickness and white spaces. Previous techniques used laser beam for reading barcodes, but could not read barcodes, which have print density of less than 1/100 mm˜1/1,000 mm unit, and, it was also impossible to read precise specification values in case that barcode specification was composed of length unit indexes. The presented invention overcomes the previous said problems by using a laser diode array.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. Four-state barcode reading system using a laser diode array, said four-state barcode consists of ascender bar, descender bar, tracker bar and full height bar, the system comprising: barcode reading means for acquiring barcode information from a barcode image of an object by using the laser diode array; bar detecting means for recognizing a barcode type and detecting a beginning bar and an ending bar by using the acquired barcode information; information value calculating means for acquiring information of a black bar's thickness and height values, and white bar's space values from the beginning bar and the ending bar; barcode reference table for storing barcode analysis information of the four-state barcode type; and barcode information analyzing means for analyzing a barcode between the beginning bar and the ending bar and configured to divide a four-state bar of the four-state barcode into an upper area, a middle area and a lower area; obtain a maximum value, a minimum value, and an average value of the thickness of the black bar and the space value of the white bar, respectively; determine a maximum value, a minimum value and an average value of the height value of the black bar; divide the barcode information by a character unit; and to apply the character unit barcode to the barcode reference table to obtain the information.
2. The barcode reading system of claim 1 , further comprising: data sampling means for sampling the acquired barcode information by a laser diode unit and forwarding the sampled information to the bar detecting means.
3. The barcode reading system of claim 2 , further comprising: input means for inputting a barcode reading beginning signal; driving means for moving the object into near the barcode reading means when the barcode reading beginning signal is inputted; moving beginning sensing means for sensing the object and generating a control signal to operate the barcode reading means when the object is approaching near the reading means; moving ending sensing means for sensing a moving ending of the object after the barcode information is read, and generating a control signal to end the operation of the barcode reading means.
4. The barcode reading system of claim 3 , wherein the laser diode array of the barcode reading means is 2 8 array.
5. The barcode reading system of claim 3 , wherein the laser diode array of the barcode reading means is 4 8 array.
6. Method for reading a four-state barcode using a laser diode array, said four-state barcode consists of ascender bar, descender bar, tracker bar and full height bar, the method comprising the steps of: barcode reading step for acquiring barcode information from a barcode image of an object by using a laser diode array; bar detecting step for recognizing a barcode type and detecting a beginning bar and an ending bar by using the acquired barcode information; information value calculating step for acquiring information of a black bar's thickness and height values, and white bar's space values from the beginning bar and the ending bar; and barcode information analyzing step for analyzing a barcode between the beginning bar and the ending bar, comprising the steps of: dividing a four-state bar of the four-state barcode into an upper area, a middle area and a lower area; obtaining a maximum value, a minimum value and an average value of the thickness of the black bar and the space value of the white bar, respectively; obtaining a maximum value, a minimum value and an average value of the height value of the black bar; dividing the barcode information by a character unit; and applying the character unit barcode to a barcode reference table to obtain the regarding information.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the step of: data sampling step for sampling the acquired barcode information by a laser diode unit and forwarding the sampled information to the bar detecting step.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the laser diode array of the barcode reading step is 2 8 array.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the laser diode array of the barcode reading step is 4 8 array.
10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising the steps of: correcting an error by means of a check character included in the barcode information, and obtaining the regarding information by applying the reference table, if the error is occurred during the step of obtaining the regarding information; and generating a regarding message and outputting the generated message, if the error is uncorrectable.
11. A storage medium readable by a and comprising: a stored program of instructions executable by the computer to read a four-state barcode using a laser diode array, the instructions including the process of: reading the barcode to acquire barcode information from a barcode image of an object by using a laser diode array; recognizing a barcode type and detecting a beginning bar and an ending bar by using the acquired barcode information; acquiring information of a black bar's thickness and height values, and a white bar's space values from the beginning bar and the ending bar; and analyzing the barcode between the beginning bar and the ending bar, and including: dividing a four-state bar of the four-state barcode into an upper area, a middle area and a lower area; obtaining a maximum value, a minimum value and an average value of the thickness of the black bar and the space value of the white bar, respectively; obtaining a maximum value, a minimum value and an average value of the height value of the black bar; dividing the barcode information by a character unit; and applying the character unit barcode to a barcode reference table to obtain the regarding information.
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February 8, 2000
August 13, 2002
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